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The Whitman Foundation
The Whitman Foundation was established in 386 AT by Yunnan Whitman, who at the time was twenty seven, and his eldest son, Octavian, was not yet even born. The foundation was originally created to help sell illegal goods through technicalities that made them legal, such as selling street drugs outside of national boundaries and therefore out of the law, or selling slaves under the guise of willing servants by forcing them to sign waivers. While this may not have been legal or friendly, the Foundation was definitely more friendly and accepting than it is now. Shortly after Yunnan died in 415 AT, his son Octavian took over at the ripe age of twenty three. With his brother, Tyler, as his informant into the real world, and Bacchus Hayburne as his recruiter and right hand man, Octavian keeps himself locked in his office on the third story of The Whitman Manor's "Whitman House." This Mansion, no matter how large, only houses few people at the moment. Mockey, Sormen, Zhang, Tyler, Octavian, and Bacchus. Octavian started to quickly enforce harsher policies, such as torturing the people his father had already taken prisoner, killing those who even mentioned his name in public, and has started to keep his workers enthralled by placing them in debt, or even threatening their lives. While many may see this as a petty crime circle, the people affected by Whitman are often afraid of the consequences that will arrive should they betray their employer. And rightfully so. To make an example that nobody is immune to his wrath, Whitman had his wife, Brianna Tallery, killed and thrown overboard of her own ship, and managed to hush the event so quickly that news of the conspiracy never even reached his own mansion. Even his workers believe that Tallery's death was a tragic accident. Operations and Services The Whitman Foundation is most known among the criminal world for being a sort of myth. Petty thieves have rarely heard the name Whitman, while many are familiar with the sigil it leaves: a silhouetted head of a weasel surrounded by a gold ring. People in this organization are often hidden from such affiliation in public; even Whitman himself can stroll down the streets of Earnwold without being recognized by the civilians. Its prime operations take advantage of this anonymity, by selling things such as high-end street drugs or sensitive documents that could harm reputations, even going so far as to forge signatures on fake reports. They make a large portion of their intake off of everyday black market goods such as illegally obtained wildlife or pets. Most famed of these is a drug created by Sermen Albach, Whitman's old alchemist, which is nicknamed 'Bellsong,' and gives its user the illusion of total bliss, as if they'd been listening to the song of a church bell or some choir. However, unlike Devil's Grass or other herbs, this drug is extremely addictive and harmful to the body, even causing dependency and withdrawal at its worse, and is easily overdosed on. Whitman (Octavian, specifically) also has a heavy involvement in the slave trade among the world. Typically its hunters or slave drivers that work under his name who bring in the shipments to other dealers or slave drivers. Plantations have slaves all branded with the sigil of his, as if permanently reminding people that no matter who buys these workers, they're his property. Again, none of these slaves ever actually see Whitman. Those who do are typically held in the cells beneath The Manor. Whitman also places people in debt to watch them struggle, and turn to him for help. Such is the case with the defunct Church of Io, or some of the Taverns around Earnwold. As is the fate of the church, those who fail to pay their debts to Whitman often end up telling everybody about it in the afterlife, rather than running the city streets. Few alive know of Whitman's involvement with the destruction of the Cathedral of Io. Debt is one of the key components to Whitman's treasury, and again plays a heavy role in the influx of money. Whitman also tends to hire hitmen or thieves through very complex means, such as sending a representative to hire a lowly thug to hire a speaker to pay a hitman to kill somebody. However long it takes, Whitman typically ends up forging signatures or using fake names down the line to make it practically impossible to trace back to him. Should one of the people be caught, he'll kill off a higher up before it reaches them, so information can't be tortured out. Few are lucky enough to hire members of the Whitman Foundation, but those who are find themselves with massive bills to pay to the Foundation, and often take an oath of silence to what they participated in. The workers are for hire for anything from armed security to exotic Red Light workers. (As Bri Tarelly was once hired to be.) Prisoners and Interrogations Another thing infamous about the Whitman Foundation is their tendency to take people away, and never let the public hear of them again. Such is the case with the ten to twenty people kept in the cells beneath The Whitman House. Each of the prisoners has committed some offense against Whitman or his workers, and is being held for their crimes. Many die as a result, but some like "Machsnap," have specific timed sentences. However, even the eldest prisoner won't escape until 435 AT. The torturer, once-renowned philosopher and revolutionary Camille Desmoulins, has taken favoring to breaking limbs, leaving scars, violating pride, and even going so far as to remove limbs or blind his prisoners. Only one prisoner has ever escaped without begging for the torture to end, and that was Threpunwonfur, who now works for Whitman as a logistic calculator. Camille only smashed in the boy's shoulder with a wrench before the mathemagician started crying answers. Notable tortures or methods include the interrogation of Machsnap, who had beaten and killed several slaves acting as prostitutes at Whitman-Owned Brothels. The dragon had bitten and heavily injured Camille's hand, so the torturer brought a wrench to Mach's jaw so many times that it practically fell off. As per request of another operative, Machsnap was given a synthetic jaw and had a rubber tongue sewn onto what was left of his own. It gave him a horrid lisp and makes speaking difficult, but the prisoner swears revenge. Another such example is the torture of Lyra Benue, which involved several different forms of sexual abuse, force-feeding, limb-splitting and eye gouging. It was so bad that Camille temporarily resigned, and another had to take his place. After four days, Lyra succumbed to her injuries and died in the interrogation chamber without giving in to any of the questions asked of her. Places of Operation The Whitman House is the center of command, sure. But The Foundation has many bases elsewhere, or has claimed several locations as their own. The Golden Mitt, a five star hotel in Heaton, is the location of most of Whitman's gold or jewels, being sealed through magic and heavy physical barriers alike. Getting inside the vault beneath the hotel is near impossible, and should you succeed, the gold is all enchanted to turn to dust on contact unless you've a specific artifact from Whitman, or you simply disenchant it. Geshy's lair is where Whitman sends his opponents, or prisoners he's grown bored of keeping. What happens there is beyond comparison to what happens in The Cells, and Whitman rarely cares enough to ask. Geshy allows Whitman to use the mines and occasionally take slaves, while he sends disobedient workers, or captured enemies there to be at the monster's disposal. Monthly payments are also made despite Geshy turning down this part of the offer, and stating money has no use to her. Whitman values the monster as part of the team anyway. The White Stag is an extremely exclusive Brothel in Earnwold's Crown District, where Whitman orders most of his slave workers to go before being shipped to their ultimate destination, and also happens to be where the crew meets for important gatherings, since the owner is affiliated with The Foundation directly, and closes off public access during times like these.